Yes we have definitely cheated this weekend...we took two cars, so that we could park one at either end of the walk! The ideas was to continue a long-term project of walking along the route of the Thames & Severn Canal. The canal itself is on private land at this point, so instead we followed the fledgling Thames - from the Thames Head at Trewsbury Mead, to Kemble then on to Ewen.
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| The Thames Head |
Today this area is disappointingly dry, but apparently the place where Thames water first appears can vary up to 15 km. This video captures it bubbling up here in 2012
A splendid sculpture of Old Father Thames made for Crystal Palace once adorned the Thames Head but in 1974 it was removed to Lechlade where the lock keeper could watch over it. 
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| First sighting of water |
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| The first bridge over the Thames at Kemble |
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| In Ewen - celebrating VE Day 75 years on |
References
Tony Robinson walks the Thames Path [Video on YouTube]
Here is a nice old book of Villages on the Thames. See p.18: the Thames really begins at Seven Springs, the source of the Churn.